Project

Building for Brussels – exhibition

The Building for Brussels program aims to feed the debate on urban development in Brussels, gather new expertise and engage the general public in the transformation of their city. Brussels is facing enormous demographic growth, unemployment, mobility problems and a shortage of public facilities such as schools or sports infrastructure. Building For Brussels maps out Brussels' major societal challenges and investigates how architecture and urban planning can offer an answer.
 

 

 

 

 

The Building for Brussels program started in 2010 as part of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. As custodian of the Building for Brussels exhibition, the Brussels-Capital Region invited Architecture Workroom Brussels to the Centre for Fine Arts.

The exhibition claims that a powerful architectural and urban development policy can offer an answer to social problems. In the search for solutions, Building for Brussels focuses on other major European metropolises. In recent years, cities such as Madrid, Zurich, Hamburg or Rotterdam have implemented an energetic policy to modernize the city and make it more liveable. Based on scale models, films, plans and photographs, the exhibition shows a selection of projects by Rem Koolhaas / Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Peter Zumthor, MVRDV, Lacaton & Vassal, Christ & Gantenbein and Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen. At the same time, the exhibition examines the possible significance of these visions and projects for the most important Brussels challenges.

Parallel to the exhibition, a series of round table discussions was set up in collaboration with the State Secretary for Urban Development, Emir Kir. The workshops put five metropolitan challenges of Brussels on the agenda: 
1. How do we translate the housing shortage into a strategic future project?
2. How can public facilities transform the city?
3. How can architecture support the local economy?
4. How do we integrate the mobility infrastructure into the urban fabric?
5. What shape do we give to the city of tomorrow?
In addition, the workshops always questioned the role that architecture and urbanism can play in this. Key figures of urban development processes from all over Europe exchanged their expertise and shared their opinion with Brussels actors.

 

 

 

 

Type: exhibition


Year: 2010

Client: Brussels Capital Region

Coproduction: BOZAR

Curator: Architecture Workroom Brussels

Media partner: A+ Belgian Journal of Architecture

Exhibited practices: Alexandre Chemetoff, Christ & Gantenbein, Xaveer De Geyter, EM2N, FOA, Édouard François, Grafton Architects, Zaha Hadid, KCAP, Rem Koolhaas, Lacaton & Vassal, Jean Nouvel, Phalt Architekten, Bernardo Secchi, Peter Zumthor and many others

Graphic design: Prem Krishnamurthy and Chris Wu, Wkshps, New York

Exhibition architecture: V+, Brussels

 

 
Objects
Construire Bruxelles guide-FR 8 MB
Bouwen voor Brussel guide-NL 8 MB
Related Projects
2010: Building for Brussels – publication
Related Projects
2011: 120% Brussels
Related Transformations
All Transformations

2010: Building for Brussels

Building for Brussels breaks with the laws of the classical architectural exhibition. It doesn’t show beautiful, special or spectacular buildings that are a statement by themselves. Instead, it argues that architecture can be a lever to tackle major societal challenges (such as demographic growth, mobility, urban economy). The selection of international, innovative city projects gives you a taste of how things can be done differently and better. Or how architectural culture can provoke and inspire Brussels policy makers.       → more

EN FR NL
WORKROOM

Since 2010, Architecture Workroom Brussels has focused on the future of our living environment. The organisation began as a safe haven to address the link between space and societal transitions, aimed at fostering a futureproof design practice, commissioning and building culture.

It has now become evident that the transformation of our streets, neighbourhoods, and landscapes is both a prerequisite and a lever for achieving societal goals in synergy. Yet we observe that these transformations remain difficult to imagine and implement. They span so many sectors and involve so many actors that responsibility falls on everyone, and therefore, ultimately, on no one.

That is why we make it our mission to create the space that connects them. And with this refined mission comes a new name: WORKROOM, House for transformation. WORKROOM is the shared space where the future of our living environment is not only imagined but also organised.

We are currently taking the lead on three mission-driven transformations:

  • SOCIETAL INCUBATORS - By 2030, stakeholders from the youth, culture, sports, care and education sectors will join forces to create renewed societal spaces that tackle loneliness and counteract the fragmentation and pressure on public infrastructure.
  • FOSSIL-FREE NEIGHBOURHOODS - By 2030, at least ten neighbourhoods will be underway with the transition to fossil-free energy in an inclusive and affordable way, with a view to completely phase-out fossil fuels by 2040.
  • SPONGE LANDSCAPES - By 2030, we will have achieved our water, agriculture and nature goals through a single, coherent approach at catchment area level, in which strong regional coalitions collectively enhance the landscape's sponge capacity.

To make these transformations a reality, WORKROOM works shoulder to shoulder with pioneering designers, local authorities, organisations and businesses, governments, knowledge institutions and impact investors.

Through co-creative design, we imagine shared pathways to the future in exhibitions, publications, innovation programmes and public programmes. These are the workrooms where we connect the actors capable of realising these transformations. From there, we design shared ownership and the organisational, funding and policy models that lead to real change.

The name is simpler. The stakes are higher. WORKROOM is the shared space where we tackle the social and spatial transformations that no one can achieve alone. In an era of polarisation, compartmentalisation and instability, that is perhaps the most radical thing we can do.